Will Saturday Be McNabb’s Last Stand?
Posted by BMT on January 7th, 2010
Regardless of what happens on Saturday night in Dallas, the odds are not in the Eagles’ favor to win the Super Bowl this season, which brings us to the perennial question surrounding this team at the familiar, disappointing end to each campaign: is McNabb the guy to lead the team to its first Super Bowl win? Unlike other possible first-round opponents, the Cowboys bring added pressure because of the rivalry between the two franchises and so the fallout from an Eagles opening-round loss would be even greater that if they were to lose to, say, Green Bay or Carolina.
To make the gravity surrounding the game even heavier, it brings with it the possibility that Dallas will have, for all intents and purposes, ruined the Eagles’ entire season by beating them 3 times. Don’t win it all in a year when you probably didn’t really have a shot to? We’re still angry but we can live with that if we think about it objectively (a big ‘if’ in this town). But cap the season with two losses to the Cowboys including a decisive one that makes the Eagles golfers for the foreseeable future? Completely unacceptable.
Much is made of Donovan McNabb’s complicity in the Eagles’ relative lack of success. A person’s perception of his contribution to the team’s fates over the years depends on whether his career is viewed in a half-full or half-empty way. On the positive side, McNabb is kind of like the diet version of Jim Kelly: great career numbers but no rings (though he’s only sniffed the Super Bowl once, an odor several quarterbacks can describe). And on the negative side, with the expectations of a town that’s never won the Super Bowl (while the other 3 teams in their division have all won multiple Lombardi trophies), McNabb’s stats mean little because they don’t correspond with a championship.
The complicated reality of the quarterback position is that it is one of eleven positions on the offense, and one of 22 roles that make up the majority of plays in a football game. Of course the signal caller is going to be the lightning rod or the hero but that depends more on the players, coaches and quality of opposition around him than it does on the QB’s perceived will to win games. Is the quarterback position more important than the other positions on offense? Probably it is. But the idea that fans have in their heads about the quarterback being the John Wayne of the team is a popular myth stemming from an inability to view the unfolding of a game as a function of many more moving parts.
Donovan McNabb has been at times in his career an excellent quarterback. At other times (like last week) he hasn’t been so good. There are, of course, a number of quarterbacks who have been so outstanding that their performances transcend their roles and their teams. Some of them would be John Elway, Tom Brady and Joe Montana. In fairness, Donovan McNabb does not belong in that group. With that said, however, none of those players won Super Bowls by themselves. They all played for teams that were probably better than any Eagles team McNabb has played on.
So if the Eagles lose on Saturday there will be a very vocal movement (maybe even more so than usual) to end the McNabb experiment. Whether that’s fair to him given the cast around him doesn’t matter because of the role of the quarterback; indeed, the perception of leadership on the football field through the quarterback position is, for right or wrong, exactly that, a role. And so going forward with McNabb, the question has to be whether he’s played that role as effectively as he could have. When you think about it in those terms, perhaps Saturday really is McNabb’s last stand as an Eagle.
January 7th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
I like McNabb and think he gets an unfair rap in this town (just listen to the WIP morning show for 3 minutes) but I do believe if they don’t go far into the playoffs it’s time to move on. I don’t blame him for any of the losses but he is the one constant in all of them (outside of Reid who already has a contract). It’s going to be interesting.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
As a Jets’ fan, I know just how important a QB can be to a team’s success. In the Jets’ case, they have the NFL’s No.1 defense and No.1 rushing attack, but because they foolishly decided to go with an untested rookie (when Jeff Garcia was available), they got in to the playoffs only with some luck. Guys like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Brett Favre win games that you should lose. McNabb isn’t among that class. He is, however, among the next group—guys who manage a game, make some big plays and put you in a position to win without making large numbers of the mistakes that kill you. Guys like Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner and Philip Rivers. Below that is the class of QBs that won’t beat you, but rarely will win games for you either (guys like Pennington Delhomme, Girrard and Flacco). Finally, you get the pure journeymen and rookies (like Sanchez), who make critical mistakes or don’t have the talent.
If the Eagles get rid of a Tier 2 QB like McNabb, is there a replacement close to that level? Not that I see. Kolb has little experience and there is no way to be sure that you are not making a tremendous mistake. It’s not worth the change just because “It’s time.” That is a lousy argument for change. Makes a lot more sense to beef up the running game because the West Coast Offense is from another era now. If McNabb were to pass only 40% of the time, he would be very effective. I would keep him, draft a big time running back and improve the offensive line.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
They have LeSean McCoy, Weaver (hopefully next year too) and Westbrook. I doubt they’ll draft a big time RB. Now the O line needs help but they have the Andrews sisters, Peters and Jackson under contract so how much can they do? I’m glad I’m not the GM.
I get your point and can certainly see the consequences of moving forward with Kolb. How do you know it’s time to get a new QB? When was the last time a QB went out gracefully? Seriously, I don’t know the answer but would like some examples.
January 10th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Watch, now that the predictable thumping has occurred, Donovan will get blamed. But Donovan was the least of the problems yesterday. The Cowboys beat them to a pulp in the trenches and are better at almost every aspect of the game. Without over-touting my team, look at what the Jets have done in 2 years—completely built an O-line and get a couple of strong runners to run behind it, get some real cover guys as DBs and sign a couple of hitting LB’s and you can compete with anyone. Can anyone say that the Eagles O-line, running backs, linebackers or even DBs (supposedly their strength) can compete with the Cowboys, much less other playoff caliber teams? It was not a fluke that the Eagles were poor against winning teams this year. I would build around Donovan because their needs are so much greater elsewhere. If they get rid of Donovan, it is a total rebuild and look forward to a couple of 10 loss or more years before things get better.